Magical microwave

June 25, 2012 

 I apologize for the delay in posting.  I've had the following pics on my phone for about a week.  The bonus is, two posts in 1!

First, let's channel our Doc Brown and pretend that we are 1 week in the past. Here is what you would see:

Alok working on the shelves and the recessed microwave..... well, this is his work.  He's not invisible in this picture or anything

The massive microwave that is taking longer to install than our entire plumbing system.  (I kid, I kid..... kind of!)

OK, now back, to the future.  Or actually still the past.  About 4 hours in the past to be exact.  (This is what happens when they play all 3 Back to the Futures....even though you own them).  

After 1 year and a long winter with no siding, here is the back of the house now.... It almost is starting to look like a real house (notice that I didn't really capture the not so great looking top half)

When you look at our yard, the house still looks abandoned. Hey, we can't have it all, right!

Moving on inside, Alok is working on the countertops.  We actually had a discussion last about how it was smart to go for the cheap countertops, rather than the ones that cost about the same amount for 1 sq ft as we paid for our lovely laminate.  Alok came home and told me that I jinxed him and he accidentally split the countertop when cutting it.   Now, my mom's story is that he stepped on it.... hmmm.... maybe it was a bit of a split/kick combo that killed it.  Anyway, it's been reordered.  In the meantime, he's working on what he can while he waits for his "special order laminate" to come in.

I'd say that this black here looks a bit better than the hunter green coming up. Here is one piece that is being prepped:

The old countertops:

 The old countertops.... I think someone ran out of water.

Alok also has finished the shelving area/space for the magical microwave.

Here is an old picture of the "original kitchen" from when we bought the house:

Alok just came home from the house and when I asked him what he did, he replied "don't even get me started."  Apparently, tonight involved 2 trips to Home Depot, Alok trying to take out a bar sink, only to realize that the water turn off valve didn't work that resulted in water spraying everywhere.... so lots of fun!

In other updates, here is where we were at the house last year.  At least we've made progress!

That's all for now!  

Jessica

Pics from 1 year ago:

Upstairs hallway bath:

Upstairs hallway:

Apartment bathroom:

Bathroom under the stairs:

Attic:

Dining room:

 Upstairs hallway bath:

  

Laundry room:

Master bath:

I believe, my office:

Yellow bedroom:

The most disgusting find yet....

June 11, 2012

Our friend Dave came over to get an extra air conditioning unit out of the garage.  In doing so, he apparently knocked over a basket.  I prepared for Alok to tell me that he broke something valuable or hurt himself.... nope.  The whole basket was full of MICE POO!! AN ENTIRE BASKET!!!  YUCK!!!

Alok wondered what was enticing them to come into the garage, and Dave pointed out the chewed open box of dog treats that were apparently left in there, oh, about 2 years ago.

This wouldn't be such a big deal if all of our furniture, etc wasn't in there.  GROSS!!

So, our plan is to cut down the weeds on the side of the garage on Saturday, replace the siding that the lovely mice chewed through, and move our lovely items into the attic (or related room).  We will be looking for help, if we have any takers ;-)

Jessica

Big box

June 10, 2012

Today, Alok continued to work on the hole he made in the wall..... although he then covered it with wood.  I'm not sure what the heck he is doing, but he assures me that he has a plan.  Hmmmm......

We also got some new old molding from the a co-worker's house, which I forgot to take a picture of so, that is much more exciting for me than it is for all of you ;-)

After the excitement at the house, we participated in our "favorite" Sunday pastime, going to all of the big box stores to spend more gobs of money. We started at Lowes to see if they had what he needed for the shower in our master bath. The idea was that we had a sink and laminate countertops that we needed delivered.  Alok said that the countertops wouldn't even fit in a regular pick up, so we figured that we would buy what we needed there so that everything could get delivered at once, and we could save on $$$.  To our dismay, Lowes did not have the shower system that we needed.  Alok went to go negotiate the delivery price.  I went to go check out something else and found him laughing. The laminate is rolled up very small and fits in this box, which went nicely in my car:

I don't know why he thought that it was so big!!  He then pictured himself showing up in a large truck that he had paid to rent, only to pick up this box and a bar sink (which is about 14 inches by 14 inches).

Here is he, carrying the "very large" box:

We then proceeded to Home Depot, which did have the shower system, but we were missing a measurement. So, we will hopefully be able to order that soon.  (Yes, we are doing the master bath now.... why stop, right?)

Jessica

Another hole....

 June 9, 2012

Alok has been continuing to work on the house (of course) and in his work, has cut a lovely hole out of the newly drywalled, painted wall.  He is getting ready to mount the microwave here and knows exactly what he is doing ;-)

 

He is also trying to finish up these two bathrooms, which he did today.  The apartment bath is now grouted and just needs everything installed by a plumber:

And the attic bathroom is now grouted/finished as well.  He just needs to paint the outside of the tub below and then we can have everything installed.  

Hopefully soon these bathrooms will be working! One step at a time...

Jessica

It's almost like a real house!

June 2, 2012

Well, almost.  We have appliances! Woo hoo! 

Notice that our lovely new dishwasher and stove are in the dining room for now.

But we have a functional fridge! Pretty nice and pretty huge at that. Alok called me laughing when it was delivered telling me about our massive fridge that took up the whole kitchen. Well, at least we'll have a place to store food.  

Alok also spent the day finishing the bathroom tile.  Here it is at the beginning:

Working hard:

Viola! Last piece going on.  Now, it just needs to be grouted. 

 

My mom worked on painting the new siding.  Yes, it is still smurf blue.  This is the best of the numerous pictures.  In the other ones, she looked like a creepy ghost ;-)

Alok also moved the horror film mirror to into final resting place, here in the foyer. Notice that kids have been writing on it. Not creepy at all.

And then we had farmer Bob raking up some weeds in the back.

In other news, we also had ADT installed, but I think it's smart not to show your random blog readers your security system ;-) That's all for now!

Jessica

Black or White

May 31, 2012 (pictures coming from yesterday)

Alok has been hard at work perfecting the tile in the apartment bathroom (BTW, this was an apartment and no longer is an apartment.  Questions have been asked).  Here he is, doing his perfect wet sawing :-)

Hmmm.... May want to move that hand

Here he is in the shower after adding the black detail.  Looking good if I must say so myself (the shower that is).

Here is the close up!  2/3 finished.  Well, in this bathroom at least!

Jessica